The Ionia County Intermediate School District is one of almost 60 ISDs in the state that are reaching their 50-year mark.

ISDs were established in Michigan in 1962, and since have been providing special education, providing funding for technology, offering vocational and technical programs, providing administrative services, offering teacher training sessions, helping to reduce costs for school services, making sure schools receive state aid payments and taking charge of the Great Start Readiness Programs and more.

Ionia County Intermediate School District Superintendent Robert Kjolhede said although ISDs offer a variety of services, no two are exactly alike.

"Every ISD is unique," said Kjolhede, who has been the superintendent for six years. "Our primary goal is to offer as many services as possible at the lowest cost possible."

The ICISD supports more than 11,000 students and 300 educators and support staff in two charter schools, six non-public schools and nine public schools. It also collaborates with Montcalm County ISD, the Ionia Michigan Works! Service Center and the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, and offers career and technical education programs at Heartlands Institute of Technology, as well as service learning opportunities, general and special education. It also helps support the Montcalm Ionia College Access Network, Freedom Acres School, Alternative to Alternative Education, Autism Spectrum Disorders Program, Ionia County Great Start Collaborative and Transition Services including the Independent Living Center and Stepping Forward.

Kjolhede said members of the ICISD have an invested interest in bringing businesses, jobs and people to Ionia County, and places economic development as a great importance. More businesses mean more jobs, which brings in additional members of the community, which brings in more students and additional funding for the schools, which means more services for those students.

"Our job is to prepare kids for the workforce," he added. "It's to help them reach their full potential."

In addition, Kjolhede said the ICISD also acts as a liaison between the school districts and the Michigan Department of Education or Federal Department of Education.

If ISDs did not exist, he said services would be difficult to be delivered the same way as they are now due to the amount of responsibilities districts already undertake.

"There would be a lot of redundancy and it would be hard to create efficiency," Kjolhede added.

As for the upcoming years, ISD futures depend on state legislation and legislators, who he said would like to see ISDs consolidate into larger, regional ISDs. However, Kjolhede said he is not sure that outlook would be for the better.

"Bigger isn't always better in school (districts)," he said. "I would say we have the right size - Ionia as the biggest and no smaller than, perhaps, Saranac."

In the meantime, Kjolhede said the ICISD's focus is to keep providing services that will benefit all students and help support the county's teachers, administrations, parents and school boards.